January Thaw and a Sick Brother

I haven't much to report today, just that we are having a January Thaw. Oh, there's still a lot of dirty snow piled up (which the dog loves to root in, he is absolutely filthy and no prospect of a bath till Saturday I suppose) but there's also a lot of water running in gutters. As I write it is nearly 9 pm and 43 degrees F. I've been getting warnings all day of howling winds but they never seemed to materialize, or at least, not down at the level where I am. Seriously -- Rusty and I went for a walk down Maine St. a couple of hours ago, I did not really feel any wind, but the flag over one of the stores (about second story level) was flapping madly back and forth. Tomorrow, we are even supposed to have sunshine.

Brother #1 is in the hospital here, waiting for a bed to open up in a neurological unit in Portland. It's a complicated medical situation which I don't fully understand. He's been in the local hospital, mostly in ICU, for over a week now (though the waiting for a bed is only the last couple of days). I humbly solicit your good wishes and prayers for him and his family. Here is a photo of one of his paintings:
It's called Rain in the Garden of Names, and is part of a series of paintings inspired by a book of the many names of Allah in beautiful Arabic calligraphy. We have hung it next to a contemporary Iraqi artist's painting that Onkel Hankie Pants brought back from his sojourn in Baghdad a few years ago (I think he has written about it a little on his own blog). The photo doesn't really do it justice but was the best I could do.